The Lover's Parable Through A Seven World Journey (15 page)

Caught between light and darkness, the sky was a tapestry of blue and purplish layers of paint, as the stars appeared to be rolling up inside the Savior’s canvas, disappearing along the easterly expanse. The land was still dim and layered in the misty, low lying clouds, rolling with the sounds of the chirping and humming insects and the scurrying about of the nocturnal beasts. Silhouetted against the early morning display, John and Sofia climbed up to the top of the first of many hills that would be standing in their path as the two of them began the journey into the dreaded northeasterly
lands.

Taking every extra precaution that he could think of, they began their tour with a more northwesterly traversal, with John leading them in the direction of the darker skies. As far to the side towards which the Savior would set as they could keep path with before necessitating an easterly run, the safer they felt. They would travel to the last northwesterly point on the map that the Sanders had documented. Then they would cut eastward, heading into uncharted territory.

Clothed in the attire of the soldiers pictured on the walls of the Education, they were equally armed with a single shoulder-fired weapon held across their chests. While they each had one hand on the rifle, remaining on stand-by with a finger resting outside their trigger guards, the handheld firearms strapped to their thighs waited at the ready for the other. Unlike the original journey to their home, they were now well suited to the environment of which they were traversing. The oft repeated walks and southerly excursions that they had made in the past prepared them well for the long trek ahead, as they were both saddled with the burden of carrying sufficient supplies to sustain them for several days.

On paper, the plan was simple, if everything went according to John’s expectations: they would carry just enough food necessary for their well being, sustaining them just long enough to get them to their destination. Once there, they would either resupply their stock, or, if the situation was found to be incompatible with his scheme, they would abandon their backpacks and ammunition satchels, returning to the safety of their home with only their weapons in hand and as much of the load as they could carry within their pockets. The return trip would be a relatively quick and easy one, as the burden would be much lighter.

Considering that they were prepared to such a greater extent than any previous venture, John was feeling an over-confidence of which both he and Sofia were well aware. It was a presumptuousness which was causing a growing consternation and a trickle of doubt in Sofia’s mind about their abilities to survive for an extended period of time within the unknown dangers of the northeasterly wilderness.

The misty exhalations were an uncommon sight for Sofia, as she was mostly accustomed to her indoor activities at such an early hour of the morning. The grass was wet with dew, softened upon its top layer by the settled moisture. With each step, she felt her feet sink a few centimeters under her weight. It was no wonder why John would often return home after his morning sessions covered with patches of mud.

They had only been traveling for approximately thirty minutes. Having never carried such a heavy load upon her person before, Sofia was already beginning to feel the warm wetness of perspiration dribbling down her chest and building up in the pits of her arms. With such a long road ahead, she settled it in her mind that the discomfort was going to be the norm for quite some
time.

John had Mr. Sanders' sketch book in front of his face, lit up by a miner’s light that was strapped across his forehead. The miner’s device was one of the more useful items of which their warehouse rummaging had uncovered. Using the book in conjunction with the compass, he was planning the course that they would make once the Savior’s light manifested in the east.

The still dimness upon the land caused him to unwittingly whisper when he spoke.

“It’s strange how the details of the map suddenly cut off once it passes a certain area to our north,” he said, “even though it’s rather far from the forbidden area.”

“Maybe they didn’t want to take any chances, either. By getting too near to those places, I mean,” Sofia remarked with purposeful implication.

“You’re probably right. When we get to the last checkpoint in a few days, we’ll slow ourselves and be a little more careful.”

Sofia knew John understood what she was implying by her comment, but he was not going to take the bait.

Climbing to the top of a steep grassy mound as the Savior’s edge peered over the easterly horizon, awakening the world with its presence, John and Sofia could see that the western landscape was similar in spirit to that of the southerly area from which they had ascended. The hills were thick with tall grass, and as green as emeralds, with patches of trees spreading for kilometers, running throughout the valleys.

Looking over his map once again, John could see that there was not much that was scaled with accuracy from this point forward. In fact, it appeared that there were many visible peculiarities that should have been jotted down as structural waypoints that were purposefully left omitted. Much of what they were now encountering was officially left in John’s hands to fill in the details, as Mr. Sanders did indeed warn them against entering the northern region. And, by the lack of specifics drawn upon the map, the old man had been quite serious.

There was an almost nostalgic feeling during their first few days of journeying, as the world seemed so expansive and endless. The skies above were so blue and inviting. Unlike their first encounter with the wilderness, they had all the provisions they needed to ensure their safety, and with that simple crutch to ease their burden, it gave them a greater freedom to enjoy the beauty of the world visually and audibly. But, the uneasiness of which John felt inside about keeping Sofia in the dark, so to speak, regarding the lack of details in the map as concerned the northern territory, was a burden of which he alone knew he had to bear if he wanted to prevent any sort of mutiny on her part. He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted her to know that they had been traversing an uncharted region, that he was no longer a map-reader, but had become the mapmaker. But he knew that she would demand that they return home, and so he kept it to himself.

The Savior’s rise on the forth day brought with it the soothing heat of the morning. Taking a rest at a nearby watering hole, the sojourners removed their long-sleeve shirts, hanging them over the tops of their backpacks and relieving themselves in the privacy of the bushes.

As the soil began to dry and harden, the work that they required of their legs eased up. The trek through the grassy hills became more conducive to their intended brisk pace.

The feathered creatures of the sky were joyfully playing in the rays of light, racing from tree to tree. They joyfully sang below the soft clouds of cotton-like puffs that strolled across the blue expanse, bringing John and Sofia’s memories back in time to their first encounter with the delicate country.

As the brightness of the day had removed the fear of which each night’s darkness brought, John and Sofia took advantage of the utility of their slings, dropping their protective guard and allowing their weapons to hang over their shoulders. With their hands becoming free from their battle ready posturing, climbing the hills and rocks, and walking together in general, became much more
pleasant.

The air was so fresh and invigorating, encouraging that child-like, exuberant feeling of adventure that had become stifled by the complacency that arose over the past several months of living so luxuriously.

But, the time of the morning for the
wishing stars
to make their appearance by way of their thin, white tails was, once again, at hand. Sofia, seeing John looking up to the sky, made every attempt to ignore him. As much as she was enjoying the thrill of their walk together, she did not want to discuss the potential reality of the artificialness of her beloved celestial objects.

From the top of a grassy knoll on which they found themselves, Sofia and John could see the misty fog of the north rising above the land before dissipating under the heat of the Savior. As far as their eyes could see, the terrain rippled for kilometers in waves of beautifully rolling, green hills and patches of blooming trees. To the far north there appeared steep, peaked highlands that arose from the soft green of the valley below it, white tipped and blackened at their bases, forming a wall of nature’s own design. It would have been an intimidating sight to behold under most circumstances, but it was of little consequence at this point in time, and merely another opportunity of adventure due to the rejuvenated hearts of the youthful couple.

John, looking over the area of the map of which Mr. Sanders had decorated with the red Xs, could see that their destination was situated at the base of one the mounts hidden among the cordillera. As his old friend had neglected to add in the details as to which mountain in particular it was that he was referring to, John figured that their own investigation would eventually bring about its true
location.

Finding a shade tree along the same outlook, the two of them dropped their gear and settled into its coolness. The sweet sensation of the moist cake, of which they retrieved from out of their packs to snack upon, enlightened their senses, satisfying the hunger that the past several hours of walking had induced.

“Somewhere over there at the edge of the forest, we’ll find whatever it is that this red area is referring to,” John said, pointing towards one of the snow-covered peaks.

Hearing him speak of the area of which Mr. Sanders strictly warned them against caused a sudden nausea to build within Sofia’s stomach. Wrapping the last half of her pastry in its aluminum shell, she placed it back into her sack.

“How long do you think before we get there?” she asked, wiping the sugary crumbs from her lips.

As John was about to open his mouth to answer, an eruption, as of a low, distant rumbling from the direction of the mountain range cut him off mid-sentence. Filling the valley with its deep voice, it brought about a panic amongst the animal population as flocks of winged creatures fluttered into the air to escape it.